Extract IPA's

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ghank15

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Ok. Both of my fermenters will be freed up next weekend, and I really want to brew an IPA. Now, I'm looking at the recipes in the database and almost all of the extract recipes seem to require at least 6-8 pounds of dry malt extract.

At my LHBS, 1 pound of DME costs $5.99, which means that before I even buy the yeast and the hops, I am spending close to 50 bucks.( I believe they sell 3 pound bags for a more reasonable price, I am not sure what the price is, however)

First of all, am I being overcharged for DME?

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is there a way to get the desired amount of fermentable sugars without using so much DME, perhaps using some LME (which costs more money, but is sold in 3 pound tubs)?

I know this is not a cheap hobby, but 60 dollars for a 5 gallon batch seems a little steep.
 
ghank15 said:
First of all, am I being overcharged for DME?
Click to expand...

I don't know that you're necessarily being "overcharged", but $6 a pound is about twice what I pay in Oklahoma. I know east coast/VA/DC/NY etc prices are inflated, but that seems really high. There are plenty of homebrew supply places that will ship for 6-10 bucks, or free if you order enough.

My LHBS (High Gravity Brew) charges $2.99/lb for DME and will ship IIRC for $7.99 flat-rate. Pretty much everything they carry appears to be reasonably priced, so I'm lucky that I don't have to mail order. I've been looking at Austin Homebrew a little bit (those recipe kits of his look nice) and they offer free shipping if you spend more than $100. Links to the sites below:

http://www.highgravitybrew.com/
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/

Good luck!

Mals
 
single pound prices on LME and DME probably reflect the pain-in-the-arse more than the value of the contents.

3lb is a much more common size for DME, and if you buy three of those, you'll have plenty to do your starter with.

of course you can get a better deal buying even more -
 
My "LHBS" which is really just a kitchen supply cooking type store, has 3lb bags for 18.00 I think. I bought two bags for a last minute brew, but I think that store is overpriced, and they don't cater very well to the brewers. I have no idea how old the stuff on the shelves is, but I would guess its relatively old.

I will go in there for small things I might need like a hop bag or something, but my ingredients are bought exclusively online.

LME is usually a bit cheaper, but somewhat inferior in quality. You have to use more LME vs DME too, but it still equals out to be cheaper. My recommendation would be to go online and find a place that sells bulk hops and extract. For what I would pay for about 5 oz of hops at my LHBS I can get a lb online.

The AHS kits are all pretty well priced too, and I did a lot of those for my first several brews.
 
The IPA I'm drinking right now used 6.6 lbs LME and 1.5 lbs DME. I just used what I had available for the malt, but I think it turned out pretty well.
 
Holy high prices, my local weekendbrewer.com sells bulk LME (he has light, amber, and wheat even all on co2) for 2.18 a pound.... sounds like high prices. If I were the OP, I would seriously consider doing some kits from NB (Chinook IPA, Dead Ringer IPA, Black IPA, etc) even with their 7.99 shipping, you will probably save some money, get tried and true recipes, and also be able to order some stuff in bulk from them all while paying the 7.99.

If you want to formulate your own recipes then my suggestion isn't all that relevant. But, I'm on my 12 batch or so and still want to pull the trigger on several of the NB kits even now.
 
Ravenshead said:
This is one of the reasons I do not live in New Jersey
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Lol. I wish I could change that.

I may consider doing a kit for my IPA. Or, I may consider doing something else. My first batch was an oktoberfest kit, my second was a vienna(sort of) lager, whose recipe I crafted from various other recipes, and my third batch was an ale of my own concoction, but pretty basic (cascade hops, LME, caramunich steeping) I want to do something more hoppy, and I thought to myself, "What is more hoppy than an IPA?"

Thanks for the input, I honestly never considered buying online before even though I knew the sites were out there.
Thanks for the input
 
ghank15 said:
Lol. I wish I could change that.

I may consider doing a kit for my IPA. Or, I may consider doing something else.
Click to expand...

I too live in NJ but order my DME from dmemart.com. Great prices but you must buy a minimum of 12 pounds. My LHBS were charing me the same prices you mentioned in the OP.

On another note I recently brewed Midwest Supplies HopHead Double IPA Extract kit and that came out fantastic and was under $50 and was comprised of 9.3 lbs of LME. I used the Safale US-05 yeast.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/hop-head-double-ipa.html
 
ghank15 said:
I know this is not a cheap hobby, but 60 dollars for a 5 gallon batch seems a little steep.
Click to expand...

If money is an issue, get out now. My last batch was all grain and ran close to $60 for ingredients. Factor in the fact I have to buy water, buy propane, and spend 4 hours of my day, and I'd argue a batch of beer costs me about $200 if I value my time, which I do. But that isn't the point. But if you're brewing to save money, well, there may better ways to do that.
 
DME is expensive. I couldn't justify doing a whole brew with DME, it's almost the same price as buying some decent craft brew
 
U-Brew in South Orange, NJ sells DME for $3.60/lb and everything else is reasonably priced as well. It's a brewpub which sells supplies. It's actually really convenient...you call ahead and tell them what you want, go into the bar, pick up your order and have one of their beers while you're there.
 
See what your local will get you a 50lb sack of it for. That should cut the price per lb by about half.

In this hobby, buying bulk saves money. Be it extract, base grains, or hops.
 
Is there a reason you only want to use DME?? I do not believe I have ever brewed an extract kit with DME honestly...maybe one out of 25-30 batches.

Every kit I have brewed came from Austin Homebrew and all have been very good and fresh. They have a nice selection of full IPA extract kits for about $32 - 50. At the high end of the price, you are getting an Imperial or Double IPA.

Take a look here:

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php?cPath=178_452_42_161

Austin usually ships very quickly and sends good instructions with each kit and their website even has a reviewing system for their kits which is very cool IMO...highly recommend. As you can see, you should be able to get one of the $32 IPA kits shipped for just over $40 bucks with shipping and a dry yeast option. Usually I just try to buy 2 kits at a time plus any other bottles or other stuff i need to hit $100 to get free shipping. But yea... $60 is a lot just for DME. Lots of great options buy online...give it a shot.
 
I try to get as much of my supplies as I can from JW Dover supply over in Westlake. They sell me 3lbs of Munton's plain DME for $13.25. Cooper's cans for $18.35,ounces of hops for something like $1.25-$1.50 +/-. They also have many different dry/wet yeasts I still need to explore. But,the kits,like Brewers Best my LHBS carries vary widely in price. From,say,$28-$52. So it depends,what's it worth to ya?
I myself like to take a basic cooper's Original Series can,& add 3lbs of plain DME to it with whatever hop additions seem appropriate to the style I'm brewing. With DME added instead of,say,brewing sugar,I get lower ABV% (4.3%-4.8%),vs 1kg of brewing sugar giving me some 5.3%. Now I'm looking into steeping grains for added color/flavor/aroma,besides a bit fresher taste. So what do ya want,good flavor or a good buzz?
 
Morebeer.com has fresh ingredients, good prices and have free shipping on orders over $39 for the month of May. Luckily they are my LHBS.
 
marubozo said:
If money is an issue, get out now.
Click to expand...

The only reason money is an issue is because I don't make that much of it, at least not yet. I just graduated college, and with the job market the way it is, well, let's just say I'll have my pre graduation job for quite some time. I have absolutely no problem spending what should be spent to make the best beer possible. I am not brewing to save money, I am brewing because I love it and I feel like with practice, I can make beer just as good as any microbrew out there(well, at least most of them).




Mikey_Dawg said:
Is there a reason you only want to use DME??
Click to expand...

Being fairly new to the hobby, I am using recipes in the database along with "the joy of home brewing" to try to get an idea of what needs to go into a particular beer style. The general consensus around this forum is that LME is slightly inferior to DME.

I really want to make the jump to all grain, or at least partial mash brewing, but I need to buy some more supplies. More likely than not, by the middle of the summer I will be set up for more grain brewing, at least the modified version that DeathBrewer has posted in the forums.
 
I'm going to try steeping grains on my next brew,like my wife did on her 1st. Then,into mini-mashes in the near future. That seems like the better way to go,to get a feel for working with grains before the AG,all day routine.
 
ghank15 said:
The only reason money is an issue is because I don't make that much of it, at least not yet. I just graduated college, and with the job market the way it is, well, let's just say I'll have my pre graduation job for quite some time. I have absolutely no problem spending what should be spent to make the best beer possible. I am not brewing to save money, I am brewing because I love it and I feel like with practice, I can make beer just as good as any microbrew out there(well, at least most of them).






Being fairly new to the hobby, I am using recipes in the database along with "the joy of home brewing" to try to get an idea of what needs to go into a particular beer style. The general consensus around this forum is that LME is slightly inferior to DME.

I really want to make the jump to all grain, or at least partial mash brewing, but I need to buy some more supplies. More likely than not, by the middle of the summer I will be set up for more grain brewing, at least the modified version that DeathBrewer has posted in the forums.
Click to expand...

I would personally be suprised if you noticed much of a difference in DME vs. LME but that is just my opinion. I just did my first two partial mash kits from Austin and they were a little cheaper and the only equipment I had to buy was a mini-mash grain bag for a like $5-6. I've made very good beers with the liquid extract kits from Austin as alot of them come with steeped grains as well (all the grains/crystal malt come in a grain bag ready to go which is nice.)

My advice would be to not get too stuck solely doing DME brews and give some LME kits a try. Not at all saying Austin is the only source for some great kits... some of the other popular sites seem to have a strong following as well. I just like Austin's selection and have never been disappointed in one of their recipes. Good luck...
 

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